The Homepage contains a single search box for you to enter search terms.

You can search by:

Keyword—finds the terms you enter anywhere in the entire record for an item, including title, author, subject, and other information.

Title—finds the terms you enter in the title of an item.

Author—finds the terms you enter in the author of an item.

Subject—finds the terms you enter in the subject of an item. Subjects are categories assigned to items according to a system such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Series—finds the terms you enter in the title of a multi-part series.

Formats

You can limit your search by format:

Books

Large Print Books

E-Books

Audiobooks (books read aloud on CDs or other media)

Video Recordings (VHS tapes, DVDs, and other media)

Music (music on CD or other media)

Electronic Resources (databases or other resources available electronically in the library or online)

Libraries

If you are using the catalog in a library or accessing the library’s catalog from its homepage, the search will return items for your local library. If your library has multiple branches, the result will display items available at your branch and all branches of your library system separately.

If you access the catalog from http://catalog.mvlc.org you may limit your search results to MVLC, a library system or a library branch by clicking “Choose a library to search” on the catalog homepage.

*Advanced SEARCH*

You can access the Advanced Search by clicking Advanced Search on the MVLC catalog homepage or search results screen.

Sort Criteria

By default, the search results are in order of greatest to least relevance. In the sort criteria box you may select to order the search results by relevance, title, author, or publication date.

Group Formats and Editions

This checkbox is at the bottom line of Sort Criteria. When it is checked, all formats and editions of the same title are grouped as one result. For example, the DVD and the first and second print editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will appear together.

Limit to Available

This checkbox is at the bottom line of Search Library. Select Limit to Available to limit by item’s current circulation status. Titles without available items in the library will not be displayed.